BWR - Changelog 07/08/23

Flamethrower
+ Fixed reflected charged cow mangler projectile damage
Fixing oversights in coding

The Shortstop
- Reverted the push force from damage penalty
Pushback was seen as an appealing aspect by some in allowing a scout to stay further back in their ideal range.

Hot Hand
- Reverted the damage penalty
Eviction Notice
- Increased damage penalty to -55% (was -45%)
Damage output of these two with the crit combo became too high, requiring some nerf to keep them from killing individuals too quickly

Loose Cannon
- Reduced direct knockback by 50%
- Direct knockback no longer slows/stuns target
The extra knockback appeared to be a sore spot for some, so it is nerfed a fair bit to better allow counter-play. The precise force of it will be subject to change.

Degreaser
- Flames do not linger on surfaces
A downside to better differentiate it from stock and make make achieving afterburn for combos more require better aim.

Equalizer
+ Removed firing speed penalty
- Increased damage when <50% HP to -40% (was -25%)
- Added: This weapon holsters 50% slower
Firing speed removed to make its more intended usage more consistent, with the holster penalty there to make sure you commit to pulling it out for its bonuses (be they the damage or resistances).

Neon Annihilator
+ Item can be recharged by dealing 400 damage
- CHARGE meter starts empty from spawn
- Increased charge time to 60 seconds
The changes in the feedback survey were largely mixed, with the holding while active been seen as too clunky. Instead of that, the weapon's charge was nerfed to simply require more effort to charge the added burst

Back Scatter
+ Removed damage penalty
+ Added On-Kill: Instantly reload 1 bullet in clip
- Reverted -34% clip size
- Reverted 20% less accurate
- Removed bullet per shot bonus
- Removed fixed wide shot penalty
Feedback survey showed a largely positive reaction to the changes, however some concern was made for the lack of an additional downside. For now, both vanilla downsides have been return to the weapon with the simple addition of the on-kill bonus to better reward kills with the weapon and mitigate the clip size penalty.

Vita-Saw
~ Build VITA meter by healing up to 600 points
+ On enemy hit: use current VITA to deal up to +200% damage
+ On teammate hit: use current VITA to heal up to +150% of target's HP
+ Removed health penalty
- -15% heal rate on medigun
- -33% damage penalty
- Removed gaining organs on-hit
- Removed alt-fire
Feedback on this change was largely positive as well, however with a slightly larger healing requirement added after testing it. The weapon should provide a good alternative to the crossbow in providing burst healing to their teammates.

Amputator
+ Added On-Hit: Apply a short healing effect to yourself and all nearby teammates
- Removed health regeneration bonus while active
Feedback from the survey showed a positive response to this change. These changes would give the Medic a more active usage of the weapon when confronted up close to surive or suppor their team. One would still have to contend with worse damage for this effect, while also losing the improved regen upside.